oriolat2
Giga Poster
Let's start my first waterpark trip review. One of my summer trips was Tenerife, where I had been told that there was Siam Park which opened in 2008. Since I was in Tenerife with some locals friends (Adrián, Flavio and Pedro), and one of them (Adrián) had been doing an internship at Siam Park, we all went there.
For those not familiar with Siam Park, this is the most recent waterpark in Tenerife and when it opened it had pretty much every ride in the Proslide catalogue (the only slide that the park did not buy was a Masterblaster – Rockets as Proslide calls them). The park is certainly different from other waterparks since it's not just slides and concrete, but slides and themeing –and it is very well executed (heck, they even had themed E-stops!). The park is themed to Thailand with some impressive buildings and a real floating market.
The park itself is not huge, but I wouldn't say it's small either and, considering it's built on a hill, the slides are very well integrated. The fact that most slides are painted green or light brown makes it even more difficult to tell them apart from the themeing.
As for operations, the park was a great surprise. It's not uncommon to find waterparks that have endless lines for their biggest rides; this was not the case and throughout the day the lines were no longer than 30ish minutes. Luckily for us, Adrián provided some Fast Pass wristbands that were good on all rides (except Torre del Poder) during the whole day; this led to serious whoring on the best slides. The park also offers a different system similar to the Fast Pass which is only valid for one hour.
Rides:
Dragon (x7 – 10/10). This is one of the two Tornado slides in Europe and certainly one of the most stunning and best themed. The main feature is that the funnel is built following the slope of the hill and it is guarded by a giant dragon. From the ground you can't see the start of the slide because it's hidden among the trees. The layout consists of two S-shaped 180º turns followed by a 50 feet drop at 45º that leads to the funnel. This part was really exciting because I was not expecting airtime at all and ended up getting loads. When the 4-person raft is at the end of the funnel you take a right turn and land in the pool.
Vulcano (x7 – 10/10). This is an enclosed Behemoth Bowl. It's the only enclosed bowl in Europe and of the few that has special FX inside. It shares the station with the Dragon because it features the same rafts. Once you leave the station, there's a small drop, leading to two disorienting U-shaped turns. After that, there's a 50-55 feet drop with a kick of airtime that caught me off-guard followed by the huge bowl. The view from inside the bowl was breathtaking; [/spoil] not only it was huge, it also had lasers, fog and the sound of an erupting volcano every time a raft entered the element [/spoil]. After going around the bowl a few times, you were swallowed by a final bit of slide leading to the pool. I must say I was quite impressed that the effects were working after 3 years of operation; some parks don't really care about that as long as the pumps and the slides do their job.
Jungle Snakes (x2 each – 8/10). These are 4 slides with rafts for one or two persons. Each of these slides has a different profile; totally enclosed, partially enclosed, very twisty, combination of drops and turns, etc. The darker slides were the most intense while the brighter were more family-friendly. All 4 slides share the same station. You can take any slide except for the second one. This slide can only be taken with 1-person rafts since the clearance with the rocks in the pool could be dangerous (you enter the pool quite fast). Again, you can't see the slides from the ground because they are hidden among the vegetation.
Naga Racer (x3 – 7/10). Six-lane racer. Quite fun and reridable if you are going with friends and there are a couple of good airtimes. Having six people going down at a time allows for a very good capacity.
Mai Thai River (x1 – 7,5/10). I am not a lazy-river fan but I have to admit that this one was really good. Not because it's the second longest lazy-river in the world (the first is in China) and takes about an hour to complete, but because of the wide variety of jets and different sections throughout the layout. In fact, the river has a sort of 8-shaped layout, with one wing being the "slow part" and another one being the "fast part" complete with some crazy twisty slide bits. It even has a lift hill! Again, the river is very well integrated and goes around islands, between lots of greenery and even goes inside the shark tank from the Torre del Poder.
Gigante (x2 each – 7,5). Two bowls, in fact these are mirror clones. You board one of the one or two-person raft inside the giant's mouth and then go down a steep and twisting drop. A bit like Vulcano (minus the effects and the darkness) you take a couple of spins round the bowl and then land in the pool. Pretty good capacity, well landscaping and good as a filler ride.
Torre del Poder [Tower of Power] (x1 – 6,5). The park's flagship slide. You can see the huge tower from literally everywhere. It's placed so that it looks imposing and sure is! Shame it doesn't ride as good as it looks. It's billed as "Europe's tallest slide with a pool ending" (cheap record? Yes, if you ask me). But 28 meters make for a 2,5 second slide that goes a through a tank full of sharks that you cannot notice since you are going too fast. Still, even non-riders can have fun watching others take the plunge and admiring the sharks. Maybe another slide could help speeding things up since it doesn't allow Fast Pass and has a very small capacity...
Mekhong Rapids (x5 – 8,5). Probably the most underrated slide in the park because of its location. It's at the very end of the park, truly hidden on the hillside among trees. This is a Mammoth rapids ride with 4-person rafts with a very long layout that combines a first half of crazy turns and tunnels and a second half with a couple of big-sized drops filled with airtime before splashing in the pool. I can see why so few people ride it; it's one of the tallest slides in the park and you have to walk up the hill for a good 5 minutes, all under the sun (although the last bit has canopies). In case you were wondering, it also holds the record for the water ride with the "World's longest conveyor belt lift in the world".
Wave Palace – Biggest wavepool in the world. Although I don't really like spending time in those pools, this one was quite exciting since it had waves that ranged from 5 feet to 10 feet. The park also runs the wavepool for surf competitions; how cool is that?
Now onto the photos (credit to Pedro for the photos!):
Getting there!
Impressive ticket booth building, and we haven't even entered the park!
Thank god, Adrián got us FastPass. FP + waterpark = WIN WIN!
Park map.
From left to right: Flavio, me and Adrián (Pedro was behind the camera)
Right at the entrance was this pool with sea lions...
I was told that each of these cost a few hundred euros...
Floating market...
We were assigned lockers under the Dragon. How convenient
Here you can see how massive the dragon is and the way it wraps around the entire funnel...
Ejector ALL the way down
Overview of the Dragon. If you look closely, you can see Vulcano's enclosed bowl behind the dragon.
Jungle Snakes hiding among the trees and Naga Racer on the right.
Even the place were they store the rafts was themed!
Here the rivers splits into two: left, slow boring loop; right, thrill loop. Of course, we HAD to take the right option (pun intended).
LOL at the queue to go up the lifthill...
Pay no attention to the American fatty
Off we go!
This part of Mai Thai River was very good as I was expecting all these mini slides.
Then you splashed inside the shark tank.
The shark tank has two rides: Torre del Poder and Mai Thai River.
The original plan was to put alligators in the tank but they later swapped those for these lovely sharks. If you ask me, the sharks are a much better option since they are imposing.
You could also watch riders as they sped through the glass tunnel inside the tank. Very neat!
From the top you get an awesome view of Costa de Adeje. Then, the world drops...
...and before you know it...
... skloosh! Seriously... SO many women got off the pool without their tops it was hilarious! (Sorry, we didn't take any stalker shots).
Next to it, the Giant. Again, it's a bowl on steroyds!
Time to eat. Surprisingly, the food was reasonably priced and it tasted very good!
Thai food FTW
Nom nom nom nom...!
Radom Siam Park banner. Pedro on the left and me on the right.
After lunch we decided to explore the kids area which had a ton of interactive stuff like pipes, a giant tilting bucket and mini-slides.
This is not going to end well...
The pool was really really big. It takes about 1/4 of the park.
About to start a wave...
Here it comes...
It was a bit like a mini-tsunami. Everyone screamed their heads off every time a wave was "launched" and was approacing...
VIP houses.
Even the restrooms are themed to the inch...
While Pedro and I whored the slides with the FastPasses, Flavio and Adrián rested for like an hour here... Lazy asses...
Only photo we could get from Mekhong Rapids. This is the last bit of the ride but there's a lot more behind the trees. Note the conveyor belt taking the tunnel!
Random themed building.
Dragon about to eat Pedro's head...
Cute sea lions. Well, yeah, "cute"...
Bye Siam Park! We had an amazing day!
This is not Siam Park but the neighbouring waterpark, Aqualand (really, just 5 minutes down the road)...
I hope you enjoyed the reading or at least the photos!
Next up: Loro Parque and its bonus credit!
For those not familiar with Siam Park, this is the most recent waterpark in Tenerife and when it opened it had pretty much every ride in the Proslide catalogue (the only slide that the park did not buy was a Masterblaster – Rockets as Proslide calls them). The park is certainly different from other waterparks since it's not just slides and concrete, but slides and themeing –and it is very well executed (heck, they even had themed E-stops!). The park is themed to Thailand with some impressive buildings and a real floating market.
The park itself is not huge, but I wouldn't say it's small either and, considering it's built on a hill, the slides are very well integrated. The fact that most slides are painted green or light brown makes it even more difficult to tell them apart from the themeing.
As for operations, the park was a great surprise. It's not uncommon to find waterparks that have endless lines for their biggest rides; this was not the case and throughout the day the lines were no longer than 30ish minutes. Luckily for us, Adrián provided some Fast Pass wristbands that were good on all rides (except Torre del Poder) during the whole day; this led to serious whoring on the best slides. The park also offers a different system similar to the Fast Pass which is only valid for one hour.
Rides:
Dragon (x7 – 10/10). This is one of the two Tornado slides in Europe and certainly one of the most stunning and best themed. The main feature is that the funnel is built following the slope of the hill and it is guarded by a giant dragon. From the ground you can't see the start of the slide because it's hidden among the trees. The layout consists of two S-shaped 180º turns followed by a 50 feet drop at 45º that leads to the funnel. This part was really exciting because I was not expecting airtime at all and ended up getting loads. When the 4-person raft is at the end of the funnel you take a right turn and land in the pool.
Vulcano (x7 – 10/10). This is an enclosed Behemoth Bowl. It's the only enclosed bowl in Europe and of the few that has special FX inside. It shares the station with the Dragon because it features the same rafts. Once you leave the station, there's a small drop, leading to two disorienting U-shaped turns. After that, there's a 50-55 feet drop with a kick of airtime that caught me off-guard followed by the huge bowl. The view from inside the bowl was breathtaking; [/spoil] not only it was huge, it also had lasers, fog and the sound of an erupting volcano every time a raft entered the element [/spoil]. After going around the bowl a few times, you were swallowed by a final bit of slide leading to the pool. I must say I was quite impressed that the effects were working after 3 years of operation; some parks don't really care about that as long as the pumps and the slides do their job.
Jungle Snakes (x2 each – 8/10). These are 4 slides with rafts for one or two persons. Each of these slides has a different profile; totally enclosed, partially enclosed, very twisty, combination of drops and turns, etc. The darker slides were the most intense while the brighter were more family-friendly. All 4 slides share the same station. You can take any slide except for the second one. This slide can only be taken with 1-person rafts since the clearance with the rocks in the pool could be dangerous (you enter the pool quite fast). Again, you can't see the slides from the ground because they are hidden among the vegetation.
Naga Racer (x3 – 7/10). Six-lane racer. Quite fun and reridable if you are going with friends and there are a couple of good airtimes. Having six people going down at a time allows for a very good capacity.
Mai Thai River (x1 – 7,5/10). I am not a lazy-river fan but I have to admit that this one was really good. Not because it's the second longest lazy-river in the world (the first is in China) and takes about an hour to complete, but because of the wide variety of jets and different sections throughout the layout. In fact, the river has a sort of 8-shaped layout, with one wing being the "slow part" and another one being the "fast part" complete with some crazy twisty slide bits. It even has a lift hill! Again, the river is very well integrated and goes around islands, between lots of greenery and even goes inside the shark tank from the Torre del Poder.
Gigante (x2 each – 7,5). Two bowls, in fact these are mirror clones. You board one of the one or two-person raft inside the giant's mouth and then go down a steep and twisting drop. A bit like Vulcano (minus the effects and the darkness) you take a couple of spins round the bowl and then land in the pool. Pretty good capacity, well landscaping and good as a filler ride.
Torre del Poder [Tower of Power] (x1 – 6,5). The park's flagship slide. You can see the huge tower from literally everywhere. It's placed so that it looks imposing and sure is! Shame it doesn't ride as good as it looks. It's billed as "Europe's tallest slide with a pool ending" (cheap record? Yes, if you ask me). But 28 meters make for a 2,5 second slide that goes a through a tank full of sharks that you cannot notice since you are going too fast. Still, even non-riders can have fun watching others take the plunge and admiring the sharks. Maybe another slide could help speeding things up since it doesn't allow Fast Pass and has a very small capacity...
Mekhong Rapids (x5 – 8,5). Probably the most underrated slide in the park because of its location. It's at the very end of the park, truly hidden on the hillside among trees. This is a Mammoth rapids ride with 4-person rafts with a very long layout that combines a first half of crazy turns and tunnels and a second half with a couple of big-sized drops filled with airtime before splashing in the pool. I can see why so few people ride it; it's one of the tallest slides in the park and you have to walk up the hill for a good 5 minutes, all under the sun (although the last bit has canopies). In case you were wondering, it also holds the record for the water ride with the "World's longest conveyor belt lift in the world".
Wave Palace – Biggest wavepool in the world. Although I don't really like spending time in those pools, this one was quite exciting since it had waves that ranged from 5 feet to 10 feet. The park also runs the wavepool for surf competitions; how cool is that?
Now onto the photos (credit to Pedro for the photos!):
Getting there!
Impressive ticket booth building, and we haven't even entered the park!
Thank god, Adrián got us FastPass. FP + waterpark = WIN WIN!
Park map.
From left to right: Flavio, me and Adrián (Pedro was behind the camera)
Right at the entrance was this pool with sea lions...
I was told that each of these cost a few hundred euros...
Floating market...
We were assigned lockers under the Dragon. How convenient
Here you can see how massive the dragon is and the way it wraps around the entire funnel...
Ejector ALL the way down
Overview of the Dragon. If you look closely, you can see Vulcano's enclosed bowl behind the dragon.
Jungle Snakes hiding among the trees and Naga Racer on the right.
Even the place were they store the rafts was themed!
Here the rivers splits into two: left, slow boring loop; right, thrill loop. Of course, we HAD to take the right option (pun intended).
LOL at the queue to go up the lifthill...
Pay no attention to the American fatty
Off we go!
This part of Mai Thai River was very good as I was expecting all these mini slides.
Then you splashed inside the shark tank.
The shark tank has two rides: Torre del Poder and Mai Thai River.
The original plan was to put alligators in the tank but they later swapped those for these lovely sharks. If you ask me, the sharks are a much better option since they are imposing.
You could also watch riders as they sped through the glass tunnel inside the tank. Very neat!
From the top you get an awesome view of Costa de Adeje. Then, the world drops...
...and before you know it...
... skloosh! Seriously... SO many women got off the pool without their tops it was hilarious! (Sorry, we didn't take any stalker shots).
Next to it, the Giant. Again, it's a bowl on steroyds!
Time to eat. Surprisingly, the food was reasonably priced and it tasted very good!
Thai food FTW
Nom nom nom nom...!
Radom Siam Park banner. Pedro on the left and me on the right.
After lunch we decided to explore the kids area which had a ton of interactive stuff like pipes, a giant tilting bucket and mini-slides.
This is not going to end well...
The pool was really really big. It takes about 1/4 of the park.
About to start a wave...
Here it comes...
It was a bit like a mini-tsunami. Everyone screamed their heads off every time a wave was "launched" and was approacing...
VIP houses.
Even the restrooms are themed to the inch...
While Pedro and I whored the slides with the FastPasses, Flavio and Adrián rested for like an hour here... Lazy asses...
Only photo we could get from Mekhong Rapids. This is the last bit of the ride but there's a lot more behind the trees. Note the conveyor belt taking the tunnel!
Random themed building.
Dragon about to eat Pedro's head...
Cute sea lions. Well, yeah, "cute"...
Bye Siam Park! We had an amazing day!
This is not Siam Park but the neighbouring waterpark, Aqualand (really, just 5 minutes down the road)...
I hope you enjoyed the reading or at least the photos!
Next up: Loro Parque and its bonus credit!
